Page images
PDF
EPUB

80

feels, when every string in his heart vibrates with responsive sympathy. He who has never rioted in the luxury of a warm imagination, may be coldly and correctly virtuous, but he can never be generous, affectionate, nor tender, he never can experience those fine feelings of philanthropy which expand into universal benevolence.

To what I have said of the nature of imagination, much might be added by men of more fertile invention, for the powers of the mind form an inexhaustible subject of examination and improvement; much has been done toward reducing her operations to the determination of mathematical certainty, but experiments and enquiries continually extended by accurate attention and patient thinking, will do much more towards acquiring that degree of precision in the knowledge of human motives and conduct, which may establish sound principles of morality, and improve the condition of civil society.

CHARACTERS.

Caratteri, temperamenti, il mondo é bello per questo.

GOLDONI.

VARIETY

ARIETY is in all things a source of enjoy of Diversity

ment, and tho' there are some objects to which we ought to be constantly attached, yet even these may be seen in different lights, and are capable of affording us new pleasures. The remark of Solomon, that there is nothing new under the sun, is generally true, but not as applied to individuals, for tho' all things in the world which appear to be new, (because they take new forms) are but different modifications of matter, which has existed, most probably, from eternity, yet to those who see them for the first time, they have the air of novelty. No individual can live or act on so extended a scale, that the change of country or of manners

The Love of variety Congemalto

Man

82

will not present to him something that he has
not seen before; the sphere of action in which
the generality of men move, is very limited
to them, therefore, by the frequent re-appear-
ance of the same objects, it may be said there
is nothing new. Even Solomon, who possessed
all that wealth or power could afford, came at
last to the end of his enjoyments, and then
cried out, with the peevishness of a child who
is tired of its playthings, that all is vanity.
The situation of kings is not, however, the
most favorable to the pleasures of variety;
their enjoyments may be costly, may be ex-
quisite, and far-sought, but being limited to a
and
space
certain round, both of
company,
they must soon become tiresome and monoto-
nous, for the faculties become blunted, by a
continual repetition of the same objects, even
if they are pleasing. Variety is most within
the reach of him, who, with a moderate fortune,
can travel from place to place, partake of the
pleasures which different countries afford, and
contemplate all the various appearances of the
natural and moral world, both of which, con-
sidered as to individuals, are endless in their
extent and variety.

The constant pleasure which even the dullest minds experience from a change of objects,

to man.

is a proof that the love of variety is congenial The natural world presents us with perpetual variety, but the greatest of all is in human characters, for no two are alike, any more than two faces, so that their diversity is only bounded by the number of the species; yet, for all this, there are many which so nearly resemble each other, as to come under a general description, and without this, the world would be a scene of endless confusion, and men could have no certain criterion whereby to judge of the characters or conduct of their fellow-creatures. Were all men constantly and solely directed by reason, there could be no difference in their actions, and consequently no variety in their character, for reason is uniform, consistent and steady; but as passion forms a part of our nature, and custom, caprice, and prejudice, make up the rest of our composition, these simple materials, like the notes of the gamut, are capable of endless variations; yet reason, like harmony, is the principle which binds them together, and preserves them from confusion and discord.

The casual circumstances which form the' distinctive marks of character among men, are

The distinctive. characters

generally at first so slight and imperceptible, & mon often imperceptibl.

as to escape the eye even of the acutest ex

84

aminer; they principally operate in early youth, when the connection between cause and effect, on the human mind is hardly to be perceived, and are, therefore, erroneously attributed to a natural disposition; yet in men more advanced in life, it is sometimes not difficult to distinguish the particular circumstances, which form their tendency to a particular turn of character. The man whom a a common long acquaintance with the worst of his species, origin & whom disappointment or distress has rendered Reformen. dissatisfied with all around him, and hope

less of any thing better, becomes a gloomy misanthropic enemy to the present state of things, not from any benevolent purposes of general melioration, but out of pure ill-nature and revenge. He rails at that dishonesty, which he once looked upon with indifference, while he partook of its spoils, but when he becomes a sufferer, instead of making many others suffer, he sees the matter in a different light, and finds his only satisfaction in exposing the villainy which he once looked upon with approbation and complacency. He becomes a reformer, not from principle, but from malice, and a patriot from pure misanthropy, not sa much to redress the grievances of others, as to revenge his own. Some there are, who, hav

« PreviousContinue »